Editor’s Note
This article reports on the acquisition of watchmaker Baume & Mercier by Italian jeweler Damiani, expanding the latter’s luxury portfolio.
Luxury giant Richemont has sold its Baume & Mercier watch brand to the Italian jeweler Damiani in a private transaction, the terms of which were not disclosed.
Damiani’s luxury portfolio includes the Damiani, Salvini, Bliss and Calderoni jewelry brands, as well as Venini, the artistic glassmaker based in Murano. The Italian group also operates Rocca, the multibrand watch and jewelry distributor, and heritage watchmaker.
Damiani said it plans to enhance Baume & Mercier’s visibility and reach by leveraging its own multibrand distribution network and opening select mono-brand boutiques in strategic locations over time.
Richemont said to ensure a smooth transition, it will provide operational services for Baume & Mercier for an interim period of at least 12 months after closing, which is expected in the summer of 2026.
The sale of Baume & Mercier, which was founded in 1830, and which Richemont has owned for decades, had been mooted for a while. It is one of the more commercial brands in Richemont’s specialist watch division, and reliant chiefly on wholesale, rather than direct-to-consumer, distribution.
It is headquartered in Geneva, and has eight stores. The watches are made in the brand’s Brenets factory in the Swiss Jura.
In a research note, Kepler Cheuvreux said it welcomed news of the sale. It said Baume & Mercier “had struggled for years” and the sale “underscores a more aggressive approach with problem units” under Richemont’s new chief executive officer Nicolas Bos.
The bank added that Richemont had struggled to reposition the brand, and at one point was considering a management buyout. According to Kepler’s calculations, the business has 100 million euros in revenues and is loss-making.
Kepler also said it believes high-end watches will remain a “key pillar” for Richemont, and that it did not view the exit as a sign of any major strategic change.
Kepler added that Richemont “has historically been criticized for taking an unnecessarily lenient approach with its loss-makers.”
Indeed, Richemont is a long-term owner and has traditionally been loath to let go of its brands. After much urging from financial analysts over the years, Richemont sold the loss-making Yoox Net-a-porter group to LuxExperience, parent of Mytheresa. In the past it has unloaded a handful of brands including Lancel and Shanghai Tang.
Müller added that Richemont “did well to groom its brand portfolio…and B&M was the most obvious move to make. It remains to be seen what Damiani’s strategy will be, but they have a very strong retail network where they can reposition this once-successful brand.”
The sale of Baume & Mercier comes as Richemont’s specialist watch division has begun to perk up after an extended period of weak demand for luxury goods.
As reported, during the key fiscal third quarter, sales at Richemont’s specialist watchmaking division made a 7 percent leap to 872 million euros.
Analysts had been expecting growth in the division to be flat.
Stripping out China, Barclays said growth in the specialist watchmaking division was even stronger, while in the Americas it was likely up in the double digits. At reported rates, sales in the division rose 1 percent.
Overall, Richemont had a rollicking holiday season with sales up 11 percent to 6.4 billion euros. Third-quarter sales at constant exchange rates beat analysts’ expectations and gave the luxury sector a glimmer of hope.
